


Urgent Emergency

by PenguinMerchant



Series: Don't Stop Believin' [3]
Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, But no one else knows, Established Relationship, Implied abuse, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Top Galo Thymos, Top Lio Fotia, but it's not really, just everyone thinks so, they both get a turn, they just get carried away sometimes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-01-26 07:14:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21370237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenguinMerchant/pseuds/PenguinMerchant
Summary: After an emergency rescue goes wrong, Lio and Galo are stuck in a cave, unable to be rescued themselves until after a raging blizzard passes. They need to find more and more creative ways to pass the time until the storm dies down, and the crew becomes more and more worried about them as time passes.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Series: Don't Stop Believin' [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1539145
Comments: 18
Kudos: 397





	Urgent Emergency

**Author's Note:**

> CW: There's implied abuse, as in some characters interpret what Lio and Galo are doing as abuse. But it's only because they don't have the whole picture and also the boys are just dumb and not really aware of how they come off sometimes, there's no actual abuse going on.

Snow is a new experience for Lio, and one he enjoys immensely. It's so white and clean and pure and just...pretty, and before, when he had his flames, he could never really get too close to it without it just melting away in front of him, even when he didn't have his flames out. He just ran hotter then. But, obviously, he always had to avoid it if he didn't want to be immediately outed, so he didn't get to have much experience with it. But he likes it now, even if he hasn't had the greatest experience of all time, according to Galo, which is to build a snowman and get into a snowball fight. There hasn't been enough snow this year to do any of that, and when they heard that they were supposed to get a big storm coming in, Lio was actually kind of excited about the prospect.

He is regretting that excitement very, very much right now.

“There's one more beacon!” Lio shouts into the comm. He can barely see Galo, standing about twenty feet to his left. Really the only thing he can see through the white wall of snow that separates them is the flashing blue and red light on top of his suit—everything else is wind and snow and ice and white.

The wind picks up again and drowns out whatever Galo's reply is, but he sees the flashing light getting closer to him and he lets out a sigh of relief that almost comes out as a sob when he realizes that Galo heard his message. This weather is oppressive, and he's never missed having his Burnish powers as much as he does in this very moment. When Galo finally comes into view he winces; his left leg is dragging behind him, trailing a thick black ooze and Galo must be piloting that mech forward on pure will alone.

“I see it!” Galo says, pointing towards the outcrop of rocks that Lio can only barely make out, but it's generally in the area where his tracker is pointing to as well. “Let's go!”

The two of them drag their mecha through the giant snow drifts, battling the wind, and Lio feels his left arm give out, frozen solid, and it falls into the snow with a loud crack. Galo's there next to him in an instant, propping him up, and leaning on each other the two make their way slowly through the drifts. Finally, after what seems like hours but had to be only ten minutes at most, they make their way over to the rocks, and Lio can see that it's not actually rocks but a cave, the entrance turned away from the wind and thankfully still visible.

“We've got to get out of these suits!” Galo calls over, and Lio agrees. They're both about ready to fall into a million pieces, and Lio definitely doesn't want to be inside when that happens. He grabs the emergency bag at his feet, sees Galo do the same, and pries off the top of the suit. It's hard and heavy and half frozen shut but eventually he makes an opening big enough to wriggle out of, and without the protection of the suit he's hit with the full force of the storm. The wind tears through his jacket and his thermals almost immediately, and he quickly calculates that the snow drift below him looks deep enough to catch him and he jumps.

It is deep enough, thankfully, and Galo comes over to help dig him out. They both stagger towards the cave entrance and then turn as a great cracking sound comes from behind them. Lio watches as Galo's mech makes a terrible screeching sound and then falls over, cracking in half and toppling over Lio's as well, the ooey black stuff coating them both and freezing in the cold air almost instantly. These were the best of the best, built to withstand incredible heat and flames, but even Lucia's winter armor that she created and hastily installed just a few days ago can't protect them from the savagery of the storm.

“Lucia's going to kill us.” Galo mutters, and Lio doesn't disagree but there are more pressing issues to worry about right now, like not cracking in half and freezing to death themselves. They move further into the cave, and even though it's got to be negative thirty degrees in here Lio already feels like he's in a sauna, now that the wind isn't ripping through him. He has his handheld out and he's following the signal to the beacon, Galo lighting the way with a flashlight, and they come into a large cavern where they expect to find the last of the missing Forest Rangers, waiting patiently for someone to come rescue them.

Except no one is there. There are blankets, a cord of wood, a few food wrappers, various other signs of life, but no people. Only a burned out fire and a silent, blinking beacon in the center of it all.

* * * * *

Lio tasks Galo with making a fire while he tries to activate their emergency radio. They weren't able to have good contact with their team in the field due to the wind, but Lio's hopeful that he'll be able to pick up some sort of signal now that they're secure and he's able to mess with it a little. There's no way that they're going to be able to get out of this cave without some assistance, not while the storm is raging, and as if confirming this thought the wind howls around the cave, a little whirlwind of snow dancing near the ceiling.

Galo's almost got the fire lit when Lio finally hears something.

“...come in? Galo? Lio? Come in?”

“Yes!” Lio says. “We read you! Can you hear us?”

“Where are you guys?” The voice is tinny but it's definitely Aina; if nothing else Lio can tell because of how worried she sounds. “We lost you on the tracker like half an hour ago.”

“We were following the last beacon.” Lio answers.

Silence for a second, then Aina comes back on. “The Forest Rangers say they're all accounted for.”

“Yes, thank you, we have figured that out.” Lio says, shooting Galo an annoyed look, and Galo smiles and turns back to the small flame he has going.

“Well, we can barely get a signal from the tracker you guys were following, you're way further out than we are. We can't get to you with the equipment we have here, we're going to need to call in the Ice Rescue team.”

Galo stops what he's doing and takes the walkie talkie from Lio. “Aina, cancel that. We're safe, we've got food and the means to make a fire. There's got to be people who are more in danger than we are, who need Ice Rescue more than we do.”

“You're such a martyr, Galo.” Aina says, annoyed. “We can't just leave you guys there. The blizzard isn't supposed to stop until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest, you guys will freeze to death!”

“He's right, Aina.” Lio admits, grabbing the walkie talkie back from Galo and motioning for him to keep at the fire. “We're safe. We'll be warm, soon. We have emergency training in case anything else happens, and when the storm clears you guys will be able to find us in two seconds flat. There's got to be more pressing issues for you guys right now.”

A pause, and with how short they are—desperate enough to call in Burning Rescue, even though they're obviously not made for this sort of thing—Lio knows that they've probably already been called to their next location, that whatever fight she's putting up is just a formality (and Aina being overprotective).

“Roger.” She says, but Lio can tell she's not happy. “Keep the radio off to conserve batteries, turn it on only at check-ins, every six hours starting now, or if there's an emergency. You'd better call in though, understand?”

“Understood.” Says Lio, and he switches off the walkie talkie and throws it onto his pack. Galo's got the fire started in earnest now, crackling and snapping and throwing strange shadows around the cave, and he watches as Galo throws his soggy gloves on the ground and puts out his hands, wiggling his fingers as the feeling starts to return to them. Eventually he feels Lio's eyes on him and cocks his head.

“What is it?” Galo asks.

Lio smiles. “I was just thinking.”

“Oh?” Says Galo, “About what?” Lio can see him shift a little, a slight tension in his legs, his fingers. He's _so_ not good at playing things cool.

Lio peels off his jacket and drops it to the floor in a wet, messy pile. It's very much not his style; at home he's meticulous about their clothes, doesn't let them get messy, but right now he does not care about any of that. Galo's eyes follow the soggy jacket and then snap right back to Lio.

“I'm thinking about how I haven't gotten to see you alone for the past three days.” He says, and now he's peeling off the snow pants that they were all issued three days ago when this whole mess started. He casts them off to the side as Galo starts stripping off all of his wet clothes too, and Lio knows they'll need to set them out and get them to dry but right now he's not really concerned about that.

“What else are you thinking?” Galo asks, fumbling hastily with the latches on his snow jacket.

“I'm thinking that it's been at least a week since you were inside me.” Lio purrs, and Galo blushes furiously like he does whenever Lio talks to him like this, which to be honest is pretty often. Lio likes watching him get flustered. He slips a hand up to effortlessly undo the latch that Galo just can't seem to get quite right, and presses his hand against Galo's bare chest. He can feel how heavy Galo's breathing right now, can feel his hand start to warm as Galo's furnace of a chest starts to heat him up as well. 

“And what else?” Galo asks, grabbing Lio's Burning Rescue shirt and yanking it over his head. Lio laughs as he shakes out his hair, still stuck through with snow crystals.

“I'm also thinking about how there are no victims to tend to here, and how we don't have to worry about finding fire or food or shelter. Really, the only thing we have to worry about is how we're going to entertain ourselves for the next twelve hours or so until someone comes to get us.”

Galo shrugs out of his pants and, finally free of his soaking wet clothes, gathers Lio up in his arms and kisses him hard. He's cold, they both are, but with the fire crackling next to them and the heat of skin against skin he knows they won't be that way for long. This is the first kiss they've gotten to share in days; Lio finds that Galo's just as eager to deepen it as he is, and Lio lets all of the pressure seep out from him. Eventually they need to come up for air, and Lio brings up a finger to trace against Galo's lips, already swollen and red. 

"I think I may have a few ideas on what will keep us occupied.” Galo murmurs, and Lio smiles against his lips as they sink down next to the fire.

* * * * *

“Okay, wait, tell it again. _Who_ was the one who suggested they stay in the cave until the storm was over?” Lucia asks, her attention only partly on driving the truck.

“Galo.” Aina repeats. “Galo came up with it, Lio agreed to it after he said it.”

They all consider this in silence for a moment as the truck races down the icy slope, heading towards the next batch of people who need their help.

“That makes sense.” Remi says finally. “Galo follows Lio around like a puppy; it only makes sense that he would come up with a plan that forces them to stay together for at least a day.”

“And Lio only agreed because he's smart enough to know that in their situation, they'd be pretty low on the urgency list of who needs to be rescued. I didn't think he sounded very happy about it.” Varys chimes in.

“They live together, you guys.” Aina huffs. “Galo can see Lio whenever he wants to, it's not like he has to make up ridiculous situations for them to be stuck together.”

“No, Lio's just crashing on the couch rent free and Galo let's him stay because he's a big softy and he's got the hots for him.” Lucia points out. “Either that or Lio makes Galo sleep on the couch. Actually, that one is probably more likely.”

Remi's already shaking his head. “I think Varys is right. I'm taking three to one odds on Lio killing Galo by the end of this storm.”

“I'll put $20 on that.” Lucia chimes in.

“$15 for me.” Varys.

“Aina?” Remi asks, cocking an eyebrow.

She sighs deeply and pulls out her wallet. “Put me down for $5”.

* * * * *

The first time is quick, urgent; it _has_ been a week, after all, and they're both making up for lost time and trying to regain some warmth after being chilled to the bone, so it's not really a surprise. It's familiar, this quick, hurried lovemaking; they both work demanding jobs with demanding hours, and by now they know just what the other likes. They'll have all the time they want to go slow, later, when they're ready. Afterwards, Lio's snuggled up against Galo's chest and they have an emergency blanket covering them, and they doze for a while—it _has_ been a busy three days, too, and they've been working really hard throughout the storm.

After a few hours of sleep Galo starts to wriggle and move next to him, and as Lio's senses return to him he realizes how desperately uncomfortable this cave floor is. He groans as he changes positions, wondering whether or not Galo would let him use his giant body as a mattress (he suspects the answer would be yes) and figures that they need to probably stoke the fire a little if they don't want it to go out. He's about to get up to do that when a strange sound comes from deep inside the cave, and Galo's hold on Lio tightens, squishing him against his chest.

“What was that?” Galo whispers.

Lio wriggles out from under Galo's grasp. “It's nothing. Just the wind.”

“Lio...what if this is a bear cave?”

Lio rolls his eyes. “It's not a bear cave.”

“How do you know?”

Lio leans down and gives Galo a quick, hard kiss, and Galo's hands come up in response, bears forgotten for the moment while he runs his hands through Lio's hair before Lio gets up. He smiles to himself as Galo whimpers at the loss and he wraps a blanket around himself to get more logs for the fire.

“Bear caves are typically covered with animal carcasses.” He says, throwing a log on the fire and watching it start to burn. “We used to run into them occasionally, but it's not as common as you think. Typically bears don't like big spaces like this either, the smaller they are the easier they are to keep warm.”

“Were you scared?” Galo asks.

Lio snorts. “Of bears? No. We were able to spontaneously combust, bears were afraid of _us_.”

“Not of the bears.” Galo says quietly.

Lio pauses, then kneels in front of Galo, knows how he gets sometimes about stuff like this, and takes his head in his hands. “Hey, Galo. It doesn't matter anymore, yeah? We're all free now, thanks to you and your big dumb heart. Okay?”

Galo considers this and brightens a little. "And yours." Galo smiles." Both of our big dumb hearts.”

Lio laughs and kisses him again, sometimes he thinks that he'll never, ever get tired of kissing Galo. He's always so open and eager, always ready for Lio whenever Lio wants him (which is always, but Lio does have _some_ restraint) and always ready to do whatever he can to make him happy. Lio doesn't deserve him, doesn't know what he's ever done in his whole life to be able to be with someone like him. 

"Come on, let's take a look around before we hurt ourselves on this floor." Lio says.

Galo laughs and stands up, rubbing his sore muscles. Lio wonders if there's any more supplies in this cave, maybe at least just a few more blankets so they can make a decent bed. Judging by the supplies that were left here the Forest Rangers used this at least semi-regularly as some sort of shelter, so it would only make sense for them to keep supplies here.

Putting on his thick woolen socks, which are the only piece of clothing at the moment that's completely dry, he pads around the edge of the cave, his blanket wrapped tightly around him. Surprisingly the blanket is enough to keep him pretty warm, and Lio wonders if their small fire is really capable of doing that good of a job heating this space or if there's some sort of thermal heat going on here. Maybe that's why the Forest Rangers used it so often. There's lots of graffiti carved into the walls, and with a frown his estimation of the Forest Rangers' capability goes down a little further. Not only did they manage to get caught in a snowstorm, necessitating rescue, they also left an emergency beacon on even when they didn't need it along with a bunch of unsecured supplies and it seems they can't even prevent people from destroying these natural formations. Still, he can't bring himself to feel that angry at them. So far their blunder has paid off for him in a big way, and Lio is counting on it to pay off even further.

“Hey Galo, the cave goes deeper here.” Lio flicks his flashlight down a tunnel, hidden behind a few giant stalagmites and wide enough for two people to walk down. The floor is worn smooth of any natural formations down the tunnel, like a lot of feet have passed over this area, grinding it down.

“I don't know if we should explore.” Galo says warily.

“Galo, I'm telling you there are no bears here.” Lio says, not unkindly. “Plus I think I see something down this way. Come with me?”

Galo does, of course, putting on some boots and wrapping another blanket around himself, and together they walk down the tunnel. The air gets noticeably warmer the farther they go, and soon Lio's almost ready to throw the blanket off his shoulders. The tunnel eventually comes to a dead end, a supply cabinet tucked into a small rocky outcropping. Lio opens it and finds...more blanket. Wait, not blankets, exactly. Are these...

“Towels?” Galo asks. “Why would they need so many towels?”

“There's air coming from this way.” Lio says, feeling a current of warm air on his skin and moving towards it like a moth to fire. The wall looks like a dead end, but Lio shines his flashlight over it and notices that it's not, actually. There's a piece of rock that juts out and covers a crack in the wall, large enough for even Galo to squeeze through, but almost invisible unless you look at it from a certain angle.

Lio slips through, and stops dead in his tracks.

“Lio?” He hears Galo from the other side of the wall. “Lio? Is it...are there bears?”

“You have to see this.” Lio says, popping back out from the wall, and Galo jumps a little as Lio appears as if from thin air. He grabs Galo's hand and tugs him inside, hears the sharp intake of breath as Galo finally sees it.

“I think there's something over here.” Lio says, using his flashlight to inspect what looks to be a battery powered lighting system. He flips a switch helpfully marked “on”, and lights come on, illuminating the space.

They're standing in a small cavern, maybe the size of their apartment. Stalactites drip from the ceiling and they've been covered in tiny Christmas lights that look like tiny, dancing stars, casting a soft white light in the space. Below, and the source where all of the heat is coming from, sits a pool of water that ripples invitingly, and Lio can see the steam coming off of it in the low light. 

Before he can say a word, Galo has his boots off and has thrown his blanket to the floor.

“Galo, wait!” Lio hisses, trying to grab at him, but he's already off and has his feet in the pool already.

“_Fuck_, Lio, you have to come in here.” Galo says, wading deeper into the water. “It's so warm.” He's up to his waist now and even though Lio's worried about the possible acidity in the water he has to admit that Galo looks fucking beautiful right now, and as he sinks down into the water Lio has the absurd thought that he looks like he could be some sort of river god descending into his kingdom. 

“Galo, you should get out.” Lio says, a little less convinced this time. “That water could be dangerous, there could be sulfur or other bad minerals or something—”

“Then why so many towels?” Galo asks.

Lio stops. “Actually, that's a good point.”

“Don't you see? The Forest Rangers have probably been using these hidden hot springs to hook up for decades. Man those guys are smart.” Galo muses, and Lio snorts. “I think if anyone deserves to use them it's us. We're only here because we were trying to save their dumb asses.”

Lio can feel his resistance wavering, can feel the call of the water, and then Galo looks up at him, neck deep in the warm water, a cocky grin on his face, and opens his arms.

“Come on, firebug. If the water doesn't warm you up, I will.”

And that's really all Lio needs. It's all he ever needs, really, just for Galo to want him, and he smiles and sheds his socks, drops his blanket and wades into the water into Galo's open arms.

* * * * *

“It's been almost five hours. Do you think they've killed each other yet?” Aina asks. They've just finished getting power back to the hospital after a few trees fell on some power lines, and the crew is pretty exhausted and taking a moment to recharge.

Remi shrugs. “They'll check in soon. We can probably get a good feel about the situation then. The odds I'm giving will most likely change based on the tenor of the call, so I want you all to be prepared for that.”

Aina briefly wonders how much money Remi has managed to swindle them out of over the years over dumb bets like this, but decides it's not worth pursuing right now.

“I hope they're okay.” She mumbles.

“You worry too much.” Lucia says. “They're both grown boys, and if Lio _is_ going to kill Galo then I don't think he'd be cruel about it. He'd probably just push him into the snow and let him freeze to death. It doesn't take that long. They say it's like going to sleep. ”

Aina glares at her, but Remi leans forward.

“10 to 1 odds that Lio does it by pushing him into the snow and letting him freeze to death.” He says. “Taking all bets now.”

Aina sighs, and goes to see if there's anyone else who needs their help.

* * * * *

Lio pushes Galo into the water and wraps his legs around Galo's waist. Galo supports him easily like this when they're not in water so this is nothing to him now, and Lio looks down at him, Galo gazing back up with adoration written clearly in his face, and Lio leans down to kiss him.

Galo lets Lio take the lead, and Lio opens his mouth gently with his tongue. Galo responds hesitantly, shyly, without the urgent passion of earlier, like this is their first kiss and they're just getting to know each other. A thrill rushes through Lio, which happens pretty much any time he's with Galo, and he deepens their kiss, hears Galo moan into his mouth.

“You're going to be like that today, are you?” He murmurs, moving his hips slightly, making Galo gasp.

“I'll be however you want me.” Galo breathes, closing his eyes as Lio pushes down again, feeling Galo's cock hard against his ass.

Lio can't stand when Galo gets like this, all submissive and pliant and ready for anything. He's so loud and brash all the time, in front of every person he meets, and yet whenever he's with Lio (and in the mood to be like this--there's something to be said about his loudness and brashness in bed when he's in that kind of mood too) he can be so sweet and quiet and he just acts completely consumed by Lio's fire.

“It's getting a little hot in here, yeah? Maybe we should get out of the water.”

They've already been soaking long enough for all of their fingers to be all pruny, and Galo gets out without a fight. The cooler air feels good on his skin, even if it's still probably something like 80 degrees in here. They had dragged all of the towels from the supply closet in here earlier, and Lio wraps one around his waist and when Galo reaches to do the same, Lio stops him.

“Let me dry you, first.” Lio says, grabbing a towel. He starts at Galo's shoulders, and he can feel Galo's burning stare on him as he slowly, methodically wipes all of the water off of Galo's arms and chest. By the time he makes it down to his waist Galo is fully hard, but he knows better than to try and arc into Lio's touch, and he stands perfectly still as Lio wipes the towel lightly against him, although he can see Galo's thighs contract in an effort to hold himself back.

“Good boy.” He says, and plants a light kiss on Galo's hip. Galo doesn't hide the shiver, and Lio loves to see him lose his composure like that. But Lio doesn't go any further, not yet; he wants to make Galo wait just a little bit longer. He slowly takes the towel and finishes drying off Galo's thighs and legs before finally dropping the damp towel on the ground.

“Now me.” Lio says, holding out his arms. Galo takes up a fresh towel and begins drying Lio in much the same way Lio just did, although he's not as good at waiting as Lio is, and moves a little faster. Lio enjoys watching him, totally naked and fully hard and using everything in him to concentrate on keeping himself back from just jumping on Lio and fucking him right there. Lio adores when he's like this, the want written plainly on his face, barely disguised even though he's trying to maintain his coolness. Lio hopes Galo never gets jaded about this, never stops being so bad at playing things cool. He just can't help but fall for the complete earnestness on his face.

When he gets to the towel around Lio's waist he moves to undo it, but Lio grabs his hand before he's able.

“Did I tell you you could undress me?” He asks, putting a little more pressure than necessary on his wrist, although not enough to seriously hurt.

“No, Lio, I just thought—”

“You thought what? That I didn't put this here on purpose?”

Galo looks down, blushes. “No, I just thought that—I like seeing you naked. I like looking at you. That's all.”

_ Fuck _ when Galo does this kind of stuff Lio goes weak in the knees. He's just so charming when he says shit like that, totally unrehearsed and just so achingly honest and Lio doesn't have any kind of defense against that kind of pure, unfettered truth. He releases Galo's hand and brings his own up to his face, cupping his cheek. An apology, of sorts; Galo's ready to be pliant, not ready to be dominated, and Lio can work with that. For now. Galo nuzzles into his hand, risking a light kiss on the inside of Lio's palm, and Lio lets him do it without comment. 

“Why are you so good to me?” Lio whispers.

“Because I love you.” Galo responds, unhesitating. He makes it sound so simple, so easy. “Always have, always will. Forever.”

It's hardly the first time they've told each other as much, but Lio finds that it still makes his heart seize up every time he hears Galo say it.

“Lay down.” Lio commands, his voice a little shaky, and Galo complies instantly even though he hasn't finished drying Lio. He lays down on the bed of fresh towels they made, totally comfortable with whatever Lio's about to do and not shy at all about his state of undress. Without undoing the towel Lio straddles his surprisingly small waist, feeling Galo's cock rub up against his ass, but he doesn't put any pressure on it despite Galo's obvious insistence. Instead, he leans forward and starts nuzzling at Galo's neck, around that sensitive spot behind his ears that he loves and that drives Galo wild. 

“Tell me, Galo Thymos, about what else you love. Do you love when I do this?” He asks, moving down to brush lightly against Galo's nipple with his tongue and following it with a quick nip. Galo gasps.

“Yes.” He breathes. “Yes, I love that.”

“And what about this?” Lio asks again, running his hands up and down Galo's chest, pushing back against the straining cock he can feel behind him.

“Oh _fuck_ yes, Lio. I love that too.”

Lio lets off the pressure again and Galo groans. He reaches down to kiss him and Galo lets him explore his mouth, lets him run his tongue over his teeth, lets him claim whatever he wants.

Lio breaks their kiss. “Tell me what you'd love the most, right now, in this very moment.” Lio murmurs. “Anything you want.”

Galo considers for a moment, and Lio knows that he's running through a number of things that they like to do together. There are a lot to choose from.

“I want to feel your lips on my dick.” He says finally. “And then I want you to fuck me.”

Lio thrills a little at this; Galo's let Lio top him before, but it's not something he's into very often and frankly Lio feels like he excels at being a power bottom. But here, in this place, with Galo in this mood there's suddenly nothing he's ever wanted as much.

“Your wish is my command.” He says, and slides down Galo's body to get in position. Galo whimpers at the sensation of Lio's body rubbing against his, and when Lio finally wraps his lips around Galo's enormous cock he guesses that he's probably half gone already. But Lio's a professional and he knows Galo's threshold for pleasure, and he's going to make this play out as long as he can.

Using one hand to steady himself and one hand to wrap around Galo's cock he licks the tip, tasting the precum that's already accumulating on the head. Galo has his head thrown back, hands clenching the towels underneath him. He knows that Lio doesn't like any pressure while he's doing this, doesn't like feeling hands on his head forcing him into a rhythm he's not choosing, and so he'll keep his hands there until Lio's done. He's such a good boy, Lio thinks fondly, taking the tip of him into his mouth teasingly. Galo wants more but he doesn't move, and Lio can tell by the harsh breathing that it's costing him dearly. He takes it further and further until he feels it become too much for him, feels the tears in the corner of his eyes already (_goddamn _ Galo's so fucking huge), feels Galo try to stifle his automatic reaction to thrust into Lio's mouth, and Lio backs off, using his hand to pump Galo's cock while he simultaneously licks everywhere he can reach.

“_Fuck_, Lio.” Galo gasps as Lio finds the rhythm he wants. Lio could listen to Galo call his name all day long, and he picks up the pace. He feels the muscles in Galo's thigh start to shiver, and he backs off, slowing down the pace and loosening his grip. He hears the frustrated groan from Galo and looks up, sees that Galo's watching him now, his eyes glittering in the low light. Lio takes him out of his mouth and smiles. 

"You didn't think this was going to be that easy, did you sweetheart?" Lio teases, running his tongue down the inside of Galo's thigh. 

"No, it's fine." Galo grits out, his tone indicating it's anything but. "Besides, I could watch your dirty mouth take my dick all fucking day." The truth, this time.

Galo usually gets all hot and bothered whenever Lio talks dirty to him, like he's some sort of virgin, but sometimes when they're together like this, right in the middle of it, he suddenly has the mouth of a fucking sailor. Lio loves whatever mood he's in, either the innocent or the dirty. He flicks his tongue out, teasing the slit again, and Galo leans back, groaning. 

"Hmm, I don't know that my mouth is quite that dirty. Do you have any examples?" he asks, and runs his tongue around the silky skin on the head of Galo's cock.

"Do I--_fuck_\-- have examples?" Galo breathes, straining not to move as Lio nips at his sensitive skin on the inside of his thigh. "How about that time last week when you told me you wanted to watch me come while you watched in the mirror?" 

Lio snorts and sits up a little. "That was fairly tame, and as I recall you liked it." 

"Of course I liked it, Lio, _please_." 

"What else?" 

"How about-- _ah_\--when you told me you thought I had the most gorgeous cock you'd ever seen and that you wished it was inside you that very moment?" 

Lio remembers, although he's not necessarily sure _which_ time Galo is talking about. "That's just the truth, it's hardly dirty."

"Yeah but you did it in the middle of dinner in a crowded restaurant." 

Oh. That time. "No one else _heard_ it."

"That's hardly the point." 

"That's exactly the point." 

"Lio _please_," Galo begs. "I'm gonna die if you don't finish. I need you." 

"You know I can't resist it when you beg." Lio says, and smiling he takes him in his mouth in earnest. Galo's been good, and while Lio wants to wring out this pleasure from him he's also cognizant of the fact that Galo probably won't be able to take much more and so preparing himself as best he can he leans down and takes Galo's length into his mouth. He's not terribly great at deep throating, but he's had some amount of practice since he's been with Galo and he's definitely gotten better at it. He places his hands on either side of Galo's hips, letting him know with a nudge that if he wants to he can fuck his mouth (gently, of course) and as Galo works up to his final rhythm he chants Lio's name with a mixture of more begging and some light profanity, and Lio loves hearing him come undone beneath him, losing control of his words and his body.

After he's done it takes him a second to clean up, and when he finally looks over at Galo he's pleased to see him sprawled out, nearly catatonic on their makeshift bed. Lio scoots up next to him and Galo leans over for a kiss. 

"I can still taste my cum on your mouth." He whispers, and Lio smiles. 

"Who's got the dirty mouth now?" 

"It's supposed to be sweet." He says, putting on a faux pout, although the smile gives it a little less credence.

Lio lets out a huff. "Actually you may be right, I'm pretty sure I saw that in a hallmark card once." 

Gali laughs and sits up, reaching over Lio for his watch, which had been discarded sometime in the five seconds between finding the hot springs and climbing into them, and looks at it and turns to Lio.

“Okay, it's check in time.” He says.

Lio blinks at the abrupt change in topic. "I'm sorry, what?”

“Check in. You promised Aina you'd check in every six hours.”

Lio sputters, his mind trying to make sense of the complete180 that just happened and looks at Galo, who no doubt can feel Lio's still hard cock pressed up against him.

“You don't think it can wait another fifteen minutes?” Lio finally grits out, when he feels like he's capable of making a complete sentence that isn't just curse words. 

“The firefighters code is not to be taken lightly.” Galo says, and it takes everything in Lio to not reach out and strangle him. “Check ins are for the safety and health of the crew.”

“I'd be more worried about your safety right now if I were you.” Lio hisses. Galo leans back down, closes his eyes, unaffected by the (mostly) empty threat.

"It's just a few minutes, Lio. You don't want to get them worried and have them send Ice Rescue to pull us out early, do you?" 

He's got a point, although Lio'd sooner die than admit it. Deep down he also knows that arguing about it would be futile; Galo gets really super serious about firefighting issues, and Lio knows better than to push him further. It won't get him anywhere.

"You are such an ass." Lio says, pushing himself off the ground . 

"And it's all yours once you get back." Galo murmurs, winking at him. 

Stalking out of the cavern with only the small towel wrapped around his waist Lio walks uncomfortably to the main area, where the fire has died down to embers and compared to the sauna-like atmosphere of the cave it is very uncomfortably cold. Lio grits his teeth and reaches for the walkie talkie, his mind running through every conceivable punishment he is going to inflict on Galo when he gets back.

* * * * *

“Checking in.” Lio hisses into the walkie talkie. Aina and the others share a worried glance.

“Hi, Lio. Everything okay?” Aina asks.

“Oh yes, perfect.” The sarcasm practically drips out of the walkie talkie. “Just fine. Just stuck in this freezing cold cave with the world's biggest...you know what, never mind. It's fine.”

Remi's furiously scribbling the new odds on the board.

“So, is Galo there?” Aina asks, feeling a little like a hostage negotiator. “Can we talk to him?”

“Oh, he's _much_ too indisposed to come talk.” Lio says. Aina thinks he sounds smug. 

“What did you do?” She whispers.

“Nothing he didn't ask for.”

“Is he alive?”

Lio laughs, and the sound of it sends chills up Aina's spine. “For the moment. _ He _ will be the one making the next check in call, you can count on that. Finding out if he has a soul is going to be a little harder, though. Nothing further to report. Out.”

The line drops. The Burning Rescue team looks at each other, Aina horrified, Remi calculating, Varys thoughtful, Lucia...well, Lucia's fiddling with something now, but Aina assumes she's just as concerned as the rest of them.

Remi comes forward. “The odds have most definitely changed. If I can direct your attention to these new numbers...”

* * * * *

When Lio gets back he ignores Galo and dips into the hot springs again, trying to bring some warmth back to his limbs. It was stupid to just storm out there without proper clothing, but he really, really wanted to get the check in done as fast as possible and sometimes he doesn't think quite straight whenever he's around Galo. 

When he finally feels warmed up again he turns to look at Galo, who's propped up on his side, still completely naked, and watching Lio with half lidded eyes.

"You did that on purpose." Lio says, sulking in the water.

"That would have been very bad of me if it was." Galo says. "What are you going to do about it?"

Lio flicks some water at him and Galo falls back, laughing. Lio decides he's warmed up enough and hauls himself out of the hot springs. Dripping wet he comes over to stand over Galo, droplets of water running off of him and splashing on Galo's chest.

"Hey! You're getting water on me!" Galo says, then grins. "Although I can't say I mind the view from here."

"You're going to like it a lot less in a minute." Lio says. "Turn over."

Galo does so immediately, without any question. Lio's heart flutters as Galo raises his ass up into the air, just a little, and for a second there's nothing Lio can really do except take in the glorious sight of Galo presenting himself. Any residual anger he had from being made to wait for this vanishes in an instant. He can never stay mad at Galo for very long anyway. 

"You're so beautiful like this.” He murmurs, leaning over to run his hand along Galo's spine. Galo arcs up, spreading his legs just a little further, practically begging for Lio to get behind him and nestle in. Which he will. After he makes Galo wait just a little longer.

“So beautiful you want to fuck me right now?” Galo asks.

“My favorite part about you like this is that I can't hear your smart mouth.” Lio lies.

“That's the first time anyone's ever called it smart.” Galo says. Lio pretends he doesn't hear him. Galo's wriggling around to find a more comfortable position, and Lio enjoys watching him move, his muscles moving and rippling underneath his hands, such power and strength and it's all on display for him, all for him.

“Since I can't hear you like this, if you're going to beg for it you're going to need to do it very, very loudly.”

“Lio, come on.” Galo moans, thrusting backwards. Lio's still standing and he reaches down a hand to caress Galo's ass, and Galo whimpers, just a little.

“The wind sure is loud in here.” He says. “I just heard the faintest little whisper of it, did you hear that?”

“Lio, please.” Galo says, a little louder this time. Lio kneels down behind him and rubs all along his back, his ass, his thighs, very pointedly ignoring the real place that he wants the attention, and Galo's moaning and wriggling and spreading out beneath him, hard again already. Lio can't ever get over how good he is, how he makes Lio feel so powerful and wanted and just...happy. With only a little warning, Lio brings his fingers around to begin to stretch him, and finds that his fingers slip in easily. He feels a jolt that goes straight to his core as he realizes why. 

"Did you make yourself ready for me, Galo?" 

Even from this angle he can see Galo blush, and he pushes back against Lio's fingers. 

"A little. Is that okay?" 

Lio growls, an incoherent sound that comes from the back of his throat. "That's fucking hot, Galo. I wish I could have watched you do it." 

"Next time." Galo says. "I promise. Now can you _please_. Fuck me." 

Lio considers making him beg one more time (he does love it so, when Galo begs) but he's had enough waiting for today, and he's done denying himself this. He takes his cock in his hand and guides it in, feeling some resistance even after Galo's good work and it's all he can do to stop himself from pushing all the way in in one hard thrust. Galo is so hot and tight all around him, and right now he's just letting him get used to the feeling, and Lio's reveling in the feeling of having Galo all around him. 

"Fuck, Galo." He chokes out. "You feel so fucking good." 

"Show me." Galo says, thrusting backwards and impaling himself on Lio even further. "Show me how much you like it."

If he's experiencing any sort of pain Lio can't tell, although he's got to be feeling a little uncomfortable. Lio's not as big as Galo--few are--but he's not small by any means. But Lio doesn't hold back. He wants to take Galo hard and fast, and it seems like that's what Galo wants too, so there's no reason to deny both of them what they want. Galo's loud, like always, and Lio loves the way his voice reverberates in this small cave. He's surrounded by Galo in every way possible--his voice, his body, and as Lio feels Galo come again beneath him, he knows that he's surrounded by his love as well, and as Galo tightens and tenses up and spends himself right there he knows that Galo can feel the proof of just how much he loves him back. 

Afterwards they're both laying on their towel bed, Galo absently running his fingers through Lio's sweaty hair. It's hot in here, and Lio can't believe he's about to think this after the last few days they've had but he thinks he might actually be _too_ hot. 

"Hey Lio?" 

"Hmm?" Is pretty much the only sound he's capable of making in response. 

"When you had your Promare, it healed you, right?" 

Galo doesn't ask about the Promare very often, usually leaves it to Lio to bring up, so Lio's instantly curious about where this is going. 

"Yeah, it healed us. Why?" 

"So did that mean that, like, it would..." he pauses, "could you, like..." 

"Oh my God, Galo, just ask." 

"Could you just do it for hours and hours?" he blurts out.

"Do it?" Lio repeats. "Do you mean fuck?" 

"Never mind." Galo says, blushing furiously. Back to the innocent schoolboy. Completely charming, of course, like always, but Lio's definitely not going to let this go.

"Are you asking me if the Promare allowed us to fuck for however long we wanted, without any rebound time?" 

"I said never mind!" 

Lio starts laughing; he can't help himself. Galo pouts for a second, but even that cracks after a moment and for a moment they both lay on the floor giggling.

"I don't think it really worked like that." Lio says once he catches his breath. "Although I guess I never really tried. But if I still had the Promare now I'd be more than happy to try it on you."

Galo considers this for a moment. "So you never...you know...hooked up with other Burnish?"

"Well I didn't say that." Lio says, the laughter inside of him dying down. There _were_ others, others like him who were on the run, desperate for any sort of escape from the reality in which they were currently living, wanting just for two or five or ten minutes to feel like they belonged somewhere, to feel like they were wanted by another human being. 

"There were others." He says eventually, softly. "But no one...no one who I ever had a real emotional connection with, or honestly even knew that well. It was just a way to feel connected to someone, just for a moment, and when you lived a life like we did...well, you just needed that connection sometimes."

"I didn't really mean to bring it up." Galo says, and he wraps his arms around Lio and brings him close. "I just had a dumb thought, is all."

"Did that thought have anything to do with the spirit being willing but the flesh being tired and bruised?"

Galo laughs. "Maybe. I'm also having another idea now."

"Hmm?"

"Maybe dinner will give us a chance to recover and go for round two."

"Don't you mean round three?" Lio teases.

"Oh god, you're right." Galo groans and drags himself up off of the towels, extends a hand for Lio. Lio takes it, and Galo leads him back to the water so they can clean up. "Okay yes, dinner and then let's see if we can break our own personal record."

Lio thinks that sounds like a very good plan, and they head off to find dinner.

* * * * *

Dinner's a simple affair, just some ration bars they had in their emergency bag, but it is definitely restorative just like Galo thought and snuggling next to the roaring fire they built up, eating dinner together, Lio feels like he might be able to stay here forever.

"Do you think our gear's dry?" Galo asks.

Lio gets up to check and shrugs. "Pretty much. We'll definitely be good to go whenever they come to pick us up."

"I would hope so. I would be super jealous if the whole crew got to see you in just your little towel. That's just for me to see." Galo smirks at him, and Lio feels his face heat up.

"Why're you asking?" Lio says, as much to distract Galo from how embarrassed he is as anything. He likes when Galo gets protective of him, but Galo doesn't need to know the extent of it. 

"I want to take a look outside. See what the snow looks like." Galo says, and gets up to put his snowpants on. He doesn't put everything on, not the thermals and under layers and everything, but Lio shrugs and follows suit. 

The closer they get to the entrance of the cave the colder it gets, and Lio is shocked when the first gust of wind hits him. The storm has obviously passed, it's nothing like it was when they were originally stranded here, but it's still really freaking cold and Lio's realizes just how warm their cave has been. They were lucky they found this place; in any other circumstance, in any other cave that might be out here, they would most likely be very close to hypothermia even with a fire. When they get to the opening of the cave, Lio stops.

It's nighttime, and snow is falling. There's probably four or five feet of snow on the ground, and it glitters and sparkles in the moonlight. Everything is in shades of blue and silver, and the moon peeks through the clouds every once in a while, lighting the whole place up almost as bright as day. Lio peeks around the side of the cave and can only see giant mounds covering their fallen mechs. It's been snowing a lot, then, while they've been inside.

"It's beautiful." Lio says, and Galo comes behind him and wraps his arms around him. It's hard to feel anything through the puffy jackets but Lio already feels a little warmer and he snuggles against Galo's chest.

"Come on." Galo says, unwrapping himself and grabbing Lio's gloved hand. "It's time for us to make a snowman."

Lio can only laugh as Galo tugs him into the snow, acting as a sort of snowplow so Lio doesn't get completed overwhelmed by it. Galo shows him how to make a snowball, and how to roll it around in the snow until it's big enough to make the bottom part of the snowman, and they repeat this process until they have all three pieces done. Lio scrounges up some rocks that are littered around the entrance of the cave for the eyes and mouth, and at the end of it all they have a fairly large, gruesome little snowman that stares back at the two of them with his little rock eyes.

"He's perfect." Lio says, as they retreat back into the relative warmth and safety at the mouth of the cave. "Thank you."

Galo smiles. "Just you wait until that snowball fight. Now come on, I'm ready for those hot springs again."

After warming up again (and having to set all of their outer wear out to dry again) they doze sleepily for a few hours, wrapped in each other's arms. It's only when Lio notices what time it is that he gets up. About thirty minutes until check-in, and he promised the others that Galo would do it this time, and he means to keep that promise. Lio's been thinking about ways in which he can pay Galo back for the trick he played while also getting a show out of it, and he has the perfect plan.

"Galo, I need you to meet me in the main cave in five minutes. I want you only in that skimpy little towel around your waist. Do you understand?"

Galo shivers theatrically. "Oh, I understand."

Lio smiles and walks out of the hot springs. He goes into the main cave, adds a few logs to the fire and puts on his pants, which are thankfully dry. He drapes a jacket over his shoulders and turns to see Galo walking towards him, clad only in that skimpy towel just like Lio ordered. Galo walks up to him, looks him up and down suggestively, and instead of blushing and being contrite about his punishment he looks back at Lio defiantly, a smirk on his lips and a fire in his eyes that Lio's all too familiar with. Well. Lio can work with that too.

"Galo," Lio starts, his voice deep and commanding, "you were very bad earlier, remember?" 

Galo's always had a weakness when Lio gets all authoritarian like this, and Lio watches him shiver, just like he had been hoping for. The first sign of him relenting.

"I remember." Galo says after a moment, dropping his gaze. Lio allows himself a small smile; Galo wants to play along. Perfect.

"You know I can't just let something like that go." Lio walks closer towards him and brushes a finger along Galo's bare chest, just a light enough touch to make Galo want to have more and that's it.

"I know. But it worked out in the end for you, yeah? So it can't be too bad." Galo says, avoiding the apology that he knows Lio's looking for.

Lio smiles viciously at him. He wanted to play it that way, did he? Well, Lio could go along with that, break down his defiance piece by piece.

"On your knees. Hands behind your back." Lio says, gesturing to a blanket he prepared. It's thick, but it won't feel like it in about ten minutes. For a moment Galo looks like he might not comply with the order, and Lio cocks an eyebrow. It's a tense stare off, but both of them know what the outcome will be. Galo wants it as much as Lio does. Eventually Galo folds, kneeling on the blanket and he casts his eyes to the ground; his first apology. But he doesn't quite go all the way, and Lio taps his foot on the hard cave floor to let him know he's still waiting on the rest of his command. After another tense moment Galo relents and clasps his hands tightly behind his back. 

Galo knows the rules for their games; even still, Lio wants to make sure.

"Do you remember the safe word?" He asks. This isn't going to be that heavy of a session, but it's been a long day so everything's a little bit more of an unknown than usual and it never hurts to be safe. 

"Yes." Galo breathes, and Lio can hear the anticipation of what they're about to do in his answer. "Pineapple." Their most hated pizza topping. It seemed fitting, when Galo first suggested it so long ago now.

"Good." 

Lio steps forward, puts his leg in between Galo's legs. Galo gasps, but doesn't move away; he's half hard already, and Lio rubs his leg a little more aggresively against him. It's a little forceful, but right now Lio knows that Galo will be desperate for any sort of stimulation, and as Galo begins to move against him he knows he was right.

"Are you sorry, for what you did earlier?" Lio ask. 

"What--_ah_\--did I do earlier?" Galo gasps out. 

"Don't be like that, sweetheart." Lio lets his hands run through Galo's hair, caressing it gently before giving it a sharp tug. "I can make this very easy for you, or very hard." 

"It's already very hard." Galo says, and rubs up against his leg more aggresively. He's right, of course, and since Galo can't see him Lio allows himself a smile. 

"Such a mouth on you today, Galo." Lio says in a mock disapproving tone. He moves away so that Galo can't get any more relief from rubbing up against his leg, and Galo lets out a pitiful whimper. "Should I give you something better to do with it than mutter filthy things at me?" 

"Like this?" Galo looks up now, his azure eyes reflecting the orange of the fire and Lio knows he's probably done for already, if Galo's going to keep looking at him like that, with that shimmer of arrogance in his eyes. Lio watches as Galo slowly extends his tongue and reaches out to lick the front of Lio's pants, and his breath catches just a little before he's able to get himself back under control. If he's not careful he's going to end up being the one begging for Galo to touch him, and that's the exact opposite of what he wants right now. He takes a step back, out of Galo's reach, and works to control his voice, affecting a bored tone. He hopes it doesn't shake.

"I'm not sure if you deserve that quite yet." Making a wide arc he walks around behind Galo so there's no possibility of them touching. Galo's tense now that Lio's out of his sight, and Lio reaches down and scratches him lightly on the back. Galo jumps from the surprise of it but by the time he's ready to lean back into the touch Lio has already moved away again.

"Why don't you tell me something sweet." Lio says. "See if you can get me in a more forgiving mood."

"Something sweet?" Galo repeats.

"If you can." Lio brushes the back of his neck gently, and is rewarded by Galo melting under his touch. 

"For you I can do anything."

"That's a good start." Lio murmurs, moving out of range again. He paces around a little, just so Galo can hear his footsteps, and Galo's not being _so_ defiant that he turns to look. Which is progress, Lio supposes. 

"Can I tell you about the first time we met? The first time I saw you?" Galo asks.

Lio shivers, remembering their fight, the fire and the fury of it, and he's glad that Galo can't see him. "Go on."

"Well, this was after that fight. That night, I went home, and I couldn't understand all of this nervous energy that I had. I thought I should have been happier that I caught the leader of Mad Burnish, but I wasn't. I was more...sad, I think. Like I knew I was already missing something, missing a part of me. Even then I think I was starting to understand what you were doing to me."

Lio's heart aches, hearing this, and he puts a hand on Galo's shoulder to reassure him. Galo leans his head over and nuzzles into it before continuing. 

"So I went ahead and did what I do to let out nervous energy."

"And that would be..." Lio prompts.

Galo bristles a little, and Lio walks around. He knows that he's going to want to see Galo's face as he tells this story, and he's rewarded when he sees that Galo is flushed, embarrassed. He looks delicious, Lio thinks. Galo shrugs, trying to hide it.

"You know." He says. "Take care of myself. Be able to enjoy some post orgasm clarity. That sort of thing."

Lio laughs. "Okay, so you let out some nervous energy. Then what?"

"No 'then what'." Galo says. "The story is what happened while I was doing that."

Lio suddenly has the feeling that this is going to be a _very_ good story, so he comes up and puts his leg in between Galo's legs again, just to let him know how much he's enjoying it, and Galo gasps at the sudden feeling of friction against him. 

"Tell me." Lio says. "Tell me what happened."

"I saw you." Galo gasps out, his concentration now split between telling the story and what Lio is doing to him. "I saw you, right as I was about to come, invading my thoughts. I saw you tied up, your hands and feet bound, and I had done that to you but this time it was because you wanted me to. You were looking at me with that same expression you did when I shot you with the ice gun, like you were a wild animal, but this time you didn't look like you wanted to rip my guts out. You just _wanted _it, wanted to be tied up and at the mercy of whatever I wanted to do to you. You were _begging_ me to do it, to take you like that. That vision just popped into my head and I was done for. I think that's the first time I realized how much trouble I was in, when it came to you."

"Oh, Galo." Lio says, kneeling down in front of him and taking his head in his hands. "I should have known better than to make you say something sweet." He leans in to kiss him and Galo returns it fiercely, still keeping his hands clasped behind his back, and Lio allows himself just the smallest weakness and leans into him, feeling his bare chest, the skimpy towel, everything the skimpy towel can't cover. Without breaking their kiss his hands move down Galo's sides, and he brushes past the towel and grabs Galo's cock. He's so _hard _right now, and Lio wraps his fingers around, enjoying the feeling of the silky skin under his fingers. Galo's leaning into it too, and he moans into Lio's mouth. When Lio finally breaks away with both his hands and his mouth, Galo's eyes are wild, he's so ready for him, and Lio leans back a little and smiles sadly.

"That's going to make it so much harder to do what I'm about to do." Lio says. Galo's lustful gaze turns to confusion, and Lio brings up the walkie talkie. 

"Did you forget what time it is?" Lio asks, setting the comm unit down on the ground. "It's time for check in."

Galo's eyes go wide as he realizes what Lio's about to do. "Lio, wait. Please, I need you to...there's still five more minutes until the call..." 

"Maybe you'll think twice about pulling that same sort of stunt on me again." Lio says gently, although he knows Galo will absolutely do something like that again and he knows that Galo wants the punishment as much as anything else. Lio's happy to oblige. He reaches down to caress his face.

"Be good, okay? I'll make sure you're well taken care of, later. You still don't have permission to move, by the way. I have some things I need to attend to." And with that, he turns on the comm and walks out of the main cave, leaving Galo squirming deliciously behind him.

* * * * *

“Hello? Anyone there?”

“Galo!” Aina breathes, glad beyond words to hear his voice. “You're okay!”

“Yeah, I'm fine.” He says, but she can hear pain behind his words, a certain sort of grit to them. Aina's worry flares up again, but she doesn't want to say anything over the comm. She doesn't know if it's secure.

“We're all worried about you. About both of you.” She says carefully.

“No, everything's good here. It's just—_ugh,_” she hears a shifting sound, like Galo's moving, but it's painful, “--it's cold here, is all. And the ground is really hard. That's it.”

“Is Lio there?”

“Not right now.” He grits out. “I think he's looking for bears.”

Okay, well that's an entirely different problem she didn't even think about at all until just this moment. But now she knows that Lio isn't around, so she can be a bit more direct.

“We're worried.” She says, lowering her voice. “I know you guys fight, sometimes, and I'm worried Lio might try to hurt you, being stuck with you in that cave for so long.” It's understandable, really. Galo's a lot sometimes, and in close quarters with Lio...oof.

“Lio wouldn't hurt me.” Galo laughs. “Well, I mean not too badly. And not on purpose. Well, it's sort of on purpose I guess, but it's seriously not that bad. And usually not for too long.”

“You're skewing the results.” Remi hisses in her ear. “Stop it.”

She ignores him. “Galo, what has he done to you?”

“It's okay, Aina, seriously, I deserved it. Oh, Lio, you're back! Did you find any bears? No, I didn't say anything, I was just telling them how freezing it was—”

“Are we good?” Lio's voice comes in, clear and cold. “Check in complete?”

There's nothing else she can say, no reason for her to drag this out. “Yeah, check in complete.”

She gets ready to turn off the comm when she hears Lio's voice, faint, like he doesn't know he's still on.

“You didn't tell them anything, right Galo?”

Galo's response is cut off before she can hear anything else. Remi's beside her, gives her a side hug and says, “It's going to be okay, Aina. I know you're worried. We all are. But I am going to need another $20 from you if you want to keep in this game. You can Venmo me.”

* * * * *

"I didn't say a word." Galo breathes, and then cocks his head. "I mean, I did the check in, so I guess technically I did say some things..."

"It's okay." Lio says. He watched the whole time--it's not like he would leave Galo all squirmy and waiting for him and not want to watch that delicious show, besides needing to be around for the obvious safety reasons--but Galo doesn't need to know that. "You did good." 

Galo beams up at the praise. "Does that mean it's time for my reward?" 

Lio smiles. "If you're not too sore. Stand up." 

Galo does, groaning at the effort, and Lio watches him unfold and stretch sore muscles. His knees show the indents from the blanket and he shakes out his feet to get blood back to them. Lio walks towards him and Galo immediately folds him into a hug. If his muscles are sore Lio can't feel it; Galo's squeezing him as tight as ever. 

"One side of you is hot and one is cold." Lio complains, putting his hands on Galo's ribs. 

"Well yeah." Galo says. "One side was sitting next to the fire and the other wasn't. You could have pointed my ass to the fire instead, since you always say I have a hot ass." 

"I think I usually say that you're a hot head _and_ an ass. That's a little different."

"Oh,that's right." Galo smiles, and then reaches down to kiss him. Lio likes playing with Galo likes this, likes teasing him and making him beg and whine for him (he also likes those rare occassions when Galo gives as good as he gets) but right now he just wants him here, right now, without any games. 

He breaks away from their kiss and takes Galo's face in his hands. 

"I love you, Galo Thymos." He whispers. 

Galo smiles, like he's just seen the sun in a world that always been cloudy. "I love you too, firebug." 

This time it isn't urgent, or quick. Lio takes the time to travel over Galo's body, tracing over the hard lines and swells and dips that he knows so intimately with a mixture of tongue, teeth, hands. He knows he's gong to leave marks on Galo's body, but he doesn't care, and neither does Galo. Galo seems to know what he needs, and doesn't push him to move any faster, even though Lio knows that he's been waiting for him for so long. The fire is warm and even though the blanket isn't that comfortable he wants to feel Galo on top of him, pressing down on him, covering him with his body, and Galo's eager to do so. They move together, slowly at first and then building up a faster pace, and Galo feels so good inside of him and Lio feels like he might burst with everything, the feel, the touch, the way Galo's looking at him, and he hears Galo call out his name one more time before he's gone and Lio follows shortly after. Lio remembers another cave, in another life, almost, and how Galo had surprised him then with how he had just trusted Lio instantly and completely, even after Lio had so casually upended his entire world view and they still barely knew each other. Even though he knows Galo inside and out now he finds that he's still surprised at the depths of his love for him, with how much Galo gives and gives without asking for anything in return, and how Lio knows that he would do absolutely anything in the world for this man just to make him smile. As they lay wrapped in each others arms, the fire crackling beside them, they both drift off to sleep and dream happy dreams.

* * * * *

Lio and Galo stand outside in the cold, waiting for any sign of Aina's jet. The Burning Rescue team had called just a few minutes ago, saying that the wind had died down enough to safely come get them, but Lio still doesn't see any sign of anyone. The wind bites into Lio's face, despite all of the layers he's wearing, and any warmth he's soaked up in the last twelve hours or so has completely abandoned him. 

"I can't wait to get home and get into bed." He mumbles. "I've had enough sleeping on cave floors to last me a lifetime." 

"What're you talking about?" Galo asks, his face scrunched up in confusion. Lio peers over at him from behind the puffy hood that's doing a poor job keeping his head warm.

"Home. Bed." Lio repeats, a little slowly. Had all the lovemaking scrambled his brain or something? After sleeping on that cave floor who _wouldn_'t want to crawl into a nice soft bed?

"You know we're not going to get to go home for, like, two days or something, right?" Galo says.

Lio absolutely did not know that. 

"What." Lio says flatly.

Galo shrugs. "Any time personnel are involved in life or death situations like these there's, like, a billion people to talk to and that need to clear off on us. Trust me, I've been in a bunch. Debriefings, reports, hospitals, probably some sort of therapist...it's gonna take a while. I guess you haven't really been involved in anything like this before, but it's like a whole thing."

Lio's suddenly not cold anymore; he can feel the blood burning in his veins, feels the heat flush through his face. Even the flash of red from Aina's jet finally coming into view doesn't lighten his mood. 

"So you're telling me we're not going to get to go home and climb into bed after this." Lio hisses. 

"Sorry babe, I don't think so." If Galo's put out by this Lio can't tell; then again, it's not new information to him, so maybe he's had time to come to grips with it. 

Aina lands the jet close to them, the wind kicking up snow and swirling it around them in a mini blizzard. Lio shields his eyes and stalks over to the passenger compartment before it's done landing. 

"Hey Lio!" Galo calls out. Lio turns --

\--and gets a face full of a giant snowball. It slides down his jacket, and he can feel the ice melting down underneath all of his layers, chilling him in unmentionable places. 

"Now you can say you've finally gotten into a snowball fight!" 

* * * * *

Aina delivers her two passengers to the firehouse so that they can change into some clean clothes. She's worried, obviously; Lio was seething when she picked them up, and barely said anything on the entire way back, although Galo seemed happy enough. Whenever Lio did speak she could hear the venom in his voice, could practically see the steam coming out of his ears, and although Galo seemed unaffected by all of it she was still concerned about him. He _looked_ okay, and he _sounded_ okay, but she had no way of knowing how deep this really went.

So obviously she spied on them in the locker room.

She couldn't see them; she wasn't a pervert, she didn't want to watch them change or anything. She just wanted to hear for herself that Galo was okay, that they both were, and to see what the two of them were like whenever they didn't have the rest of the crew to worry about. It takes her a while to quietly get into place, and she comes in at the middle of their conversation.

"...fight is between two people, you can't just sucker punch someone like that." She hears Lio say crossly.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Galo whines. "It's not my fault that your reflexes are so slow. I thought you would catch it."

There's a banging sound, like a hand slammed against a locker, and Aina jumps.

"My reflexes are _not_ slow." Lio says, his voice deep and dangerous. "I think you know that, especially after I beat your sorry ass every week in training."

Galo murmurs something, but Aina's too far to hear what the response is. An apology? Maybe? She creeps a little closer.

"That's better." Lio says. He sounds pleased, so she's guessing it was an apology. "So, we've got to get our stories straight for whatever this debriefing thing is. What are you going to tell them?"

"Just that we were stuck in a cave, we ate some rations, we didn't find any bears, everyone is okay and not hurt and everything is fine."

"Oh? And what did we do to pass the time?"

Galo's quiet for a second. "Tic tac toe?"

Lio laughs. "Okay. And those bruises?"

There's some shuffling sounds, and Aina sends up a prayer. There are bruises? And Galo's helping cover them up? What has the poor boy gotten himself into?

"They're from the mech." Galo says. "When I was trying to get out."

"Okay, good. Maybe we'll get lucky and get out of this thing sooner than we thought. Are you ready?"

Aina doesn't hear the rest, she creeps away before the two of them finish up and see her there. She's got to do something though, she can't just let Galo be treated like this and not say anything.

She gets a chance in a few minutes, right before the boys are set to go to their first debriefing. Lio's called in first, and she takes the chance to grab Galo's arm.

"Galo, listen to me." She says fiercely. Galo startles, a little, and looks at her with his full attention.

"You are loved." She says carefully. "You have friends. You know that right?"

"Uhh, sure." He says, casting a quick glance towards the door that Lio just went through. "Are you okay?"

"Are _you_?" She asks. 

"I'm...fine." He responds slowly.

"I just want you to know you can talk to me about anything. Anything that's going on in your life. If you want to talk, I'll listen without judgement. You can trust me--you can trust any of us."

Galo starts to blush, which surprises her. That wasn't quite the reaction she had thought he would have. Quickly, he grabs her up in a big hug, squeezes her tightly and then lets go just as quickly.

"That's very nice of you, Aina. I appreciate it. I think that soon...soon we'll talk. Okay?" And then he's being called in too, and he sends her a quick smile before he vanishes behind the door.

Aina sighs. At least she got through to him. And it seemed like he was going to open up. That's really all she could do. She walks over to the main lounge area, where the rest of the group is huddled around Remi's board where's he's written all of the latest odds.

She goes in for a closer look when Ignis walks in, and everyone goes silent.

"What's this?" He asks, gesturing towards the board. Aina shoots Remi a look, and he coughs nervously.

"Oh, it's just, ah, a game that we were playing."

"And? What's the game?"

"We were betting on how fast Lio would kill Galo once they were stuck in that cave together." Lucia blurts out. Remi shoots her an angry glance. "No one won, by the way."

Ignis stares at them all for a moment, and then Aina sees the corner of his mustache twitch up. Was that...a smile? What passed for a laugh, maybe, for Ignis?

"Is that what you all think?" He says softly, and the mustache twitches again. Aina's totally confused at this point, and as she looks over at the crew she can see that they're just as confused as her.

"Carry on." Ignis says. "Next time, let me in on the bet so I can mop you all up."

And with that perplexing statement, he leaves them to their games.

"What do you think that meant?" Aina asks, once he's gone.

"No idea." Varys says.

"Okay, next bet." Remi says. "How many days until Lio kicks Galo out of his own apartment. Varys? Lucia? Want to start the games?"

The group quickly starts arguing about this next bet, calling out different numbers, and they're all so engrossed in it that none of them notice Ignis watching them, smiling at how blind they all are before heading back to finish up debriefing the two very impatient lovers he's got in his office right now.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure if this thing is actually any good or if I just have some weird sort of Stockholm syndrome about it from reading/editing it so much. I'm going to assume the latter but I absolutely positively cannot read through this one more time, I am about to go crazy. I was in a weird mood when I wrote this, sorry if it's a little strange. Also I pretty much just wrote this whole stupid thing for the jokes about the BR team thinking Galo and Lio hated each other, I'm not really sure why I thought it was that funny but I still can't get over it and honestly it still makes me laugh.


End file.
